‘The Swimmers’ Review

Both adversity and triumph are in abundant supply in Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers, an undeniably powerful if inescapably episodic drama chronicling the harrowing, real-life flight taken by a pair of sisters from war-ravaged Syria to the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Ushering in the first business-as-usual edition of the Toronto International Film Festival since 2019, the film’s world premiere should set the stage for a buoyant response ahead of its Nov. 23 Netflix bow — particularly for the performances of the siblings cast as Olympics hopeful Yusra Mardini and her older sister Sara.